Former state school employee Buher paid in $166K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.72M in retirement

Former state school employee Cynthia Buher, who retired in June 2016, saved $166,291 toward a pension over 32 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Buher would collect as much as $3.72 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Buher received $78,230 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Buher will have already received $241,801 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.